KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) declared on Friday that no village has ever existed on the 2,000 acres land of KDA Scheme-36 Gulistan-e-Johar and directed the provincial government to constitute a team comprising senior officials of Board of Revenue, Land Unitisation Department, City Surveyor and Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to undertake a comprehensive survey of KDA Scheme-36.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam while giving judgment on an old and complicated litigation observed that if it was found that villages were located outside the territorial limits of the Scheme-36, then the Sindh government subject to final decision of pending litigation in Supreme Court or any other court, might take decision with regards to occupants of the villages.
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In the judgment authored by Justice Alam, the court held that if villages were found to existing in the territorial limits of Scheme-36, then they would be considered encroachment and be removed forthwith.
The court directed the Sindh chief secretary to ensure any encroached portion of Scheme-36 was retrieved immediately in favor of allottees or the KDA.
The court noted that the petitioner Haji Jafer Khan Rind who sought to declare that village Chishti Nagar land in Scheme-36 was legally allotted to various people, suppressed the material facts and judgments of the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court which settled the controversy in an earlier judgment in Talat Ejaz case.
The court noted that the apex court had upheld the judgment of SHC in Talat Ejaz case which held that no village had ever existed in Scheme-36.
The bench held that the petition had been filed by Haji Jafer Khan by adopting deceptive tactics and concealment of facts and abusing process of court.
“The acts of the petitioner are fraudulent and collusive with the official respondents (of Sindh Government),” the bench noted.
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It further noted that not comments/counter-affidavits were filed by official respondents after passing of five years which clearly demonstrated that officials of Sindh Government were in league with those, who brought false ownership claims in courts with aid and assistance of the officials.
The bench directed the office of the court to mark a caution against those litigants who attempted to abuse process of the court and file multiple litigations on identical issues already determined by judicial pronouncements. The bench also directed the Registrar of the court to take concrete steps in this regard.
